6 Reasons Why The Colorado Recall Is Not A Victory For The NRA

The NRA won a small victory in Colorado in their ongoing efforts to prevent safe and sensible gun laws in this country and to keep the profits of the gun manufacturers that provide the bulk of the NRA's funding. But it was hardly the sweeping massive victory that NRA supporters are claiming it to be. In fact, the biggest lesson to be gained from the Colorado recalls is that voter suppression may be the most dangerous weapon the Right Wing has.

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6 Reasons Why The Colorado Recall Is Not A Victory For The NRAby Deborah Montesano September 12, 2013

The NRA is touting the Colorado recall as a symbol, but obviously, it's a hollow one. Supporters of gun control aren't ceding ground.

On Tuesday, Colorado held a recall election of two state senators who voted for the state's recently enacted gun control law. The law is fairly modest, stipulating that ammunition magazines be limited to 15 rounds and that background checks also cover the private sale of guns. However, Colorado is part of the fiercely independent West, and even that amount of control — in spite of the Columbine High School and Aurora theater massacres — was too much for some of its citizens.

The results of the recall are that two Democratic senators — John Morse of Colorado Springs and Angela Giron of Pueblo — will now be replaced by two Republicans. All across the nation, the headlines are screaming that this is a victory for the National Rifle Association (NRA), which was behind the recall movement, as well as a warning ‘shot across the bow' to anyone else in the country who is giving thought to passing gun control legislation.

But not so fast. Colorado is not the nation. And the recalls are not even representative of the state. Here are six reasons why the NRA is premature in claiming victory:

1. One of the recalled senators, John Morse, is the Senate President. He is likely to be replaced by a woman who is politically further to the left than he is and is reportedly a more fervent advocate of gun control — senate majority leader Morgan Carroll.

2. John Morse represented a Colorado Springs district that is a conservative stronghold. For two decades, the city has been the headquarters for the Evangelical Christian movement and is a military community, home to the U.S. Air Force Academy. Even in 2010, when Morse was up for re-election, he won the district by only 340 votes. Tuesday's vote was also extremely close: 51% voted ‘yes' on the recall and 49% voted ‘no'.

3. Voter turnout in an off-election year was quite small, about 15% in Morse's district and about 30% in Giron's.

4. The voting process was confused by multiple lawsuits brought by gun enthusiasts with the intention of suppressing the vote. In past elections, as many as 70% of voters cast their ballot through the mail. The recall election was supposed to be entirely by mail but, with less than a month to go, the rules were changed so that voters had to show up at their precinct in person in order to vote. A woman working on Morse's behalf, Christy Le Lait, said:

Even one of the county commissioners didn't understand the rules. We've encountered people who are waiting for their mail-in ballot and a lot of people who don't know they can only vote in this if they live in Senate District 11.

5. Both houses of the legislature are still held by Democratic majorities. The governor, John Hickenlooper, is also a Democrat. Therefore, the gun control laws will remain in place in spite of these two recalls.

6. The voter mood statewide is quite different from that in the two counties involved in the recall. In August, a Quinnipiac University poll found that 54% of voters thought Morse shouldn't be recalled, and 52% felt the same way about the other senator, Angela Giron of Pueblo. An even larger majority, 60%, disapproved of using recalls when voters disagree with legislators, and felt like waiting for the next election was the best option.

The NRA is touting the recall as a symbol, but obviously, it's a hollow one. Supporters of gun control aren't ceding ground. In a fiery concession speech, John Morse said: We as the Democratic Party will continue to fight … The highest rank in a democracy is citizen, not Senate President, so soon, along with many of you, I will hold that rank and there's nothing citizens can't accomplish when they put their minds to accomplishing it.

He got that right. And no amount of obstacles thrown in the way will deter a committed electorate — in 2014, and beyond.

More importantly, it shows the lengths the NRA will go to, to achieve its hollow goals. This will not be soon forgotten by the voters and I would believe that were Mr Morse and Ms Giron were to run in a regular election again they'd be put back into office.